The Bateso and their country. The Bateso are a tribe belonging to the Nilotic group, living in the Central Province of the Uganda Protectorate, and are supposed to number about a million people. Their country borders on Lake Kyoga and extends some miles to the north of it. The country is almost level, but has a few rocky hills with megaliths supported upon each other and looking as though a slight breeze would dislodge them and hurl them into the fields below. Many of the rocks have sacred associations connected with them, though there is no definite belief that they are tenanted by spirits. There is little wood in the country for household use and cooking, and timber for building purposes has to be carried long distances. The seasons are clearly defined: rain seldom falls during the dry season, but a strong dry wind blows daily. The people are commonly known as Bakedi, that is, ‘naked people,’ by their Bantu neighbours, because they wear no clothing. Both men and women are well built, their height being from five feet six inches to six feet; their features approach more nearly the Hamitic type than do those of the Bantu tribes; their lips are not so prominent nor are their noses so broad, and there appears to be a nearer approach to a nasal bridge. In other respects they resemble Bantu peoples, having dark skin and short woolly hair.